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Dimitrov: Prespes accord required creativity, persistence

North Macedonia's Foreign Minister, Nikola Dimitrov, has said Greece has enhanced its status by negotiating and ratifying the Prespes Agreement that gave his country a new name.

Speaking at the Delphi Economic Forum Friday, Dimitrov said that the way a country treats its weaker neighbors says a lot about its character.

“What you did made Greece an even greater nation,” Dimitrov told Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Foreign Minister George Katrougalos and former Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who attended the forum.

Dimitrov said that resolving the longstanding dispute between the two countries required a lot of creativity and persistence.

“We were thinking about the future and the people who will benefit from this and not about a moment of political glory,” he said.

North Macedonia's foreign minister also spoke about prospects for a “strategic partnership” between the two countries in areas such as trade, security, youth employment, national health systems and production. He noted that Greece is already North Macedonia's second most important trade partner, behind Germany.